Graceful Beginnings Builds Families Through Education and Encouragement

By Greg Ritchie

Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT — When Rena Morris talks about Graceful Beginnings, she does not begin with diapers, pregnancy tests or parenting classes.

She begins with relationships.

“We want people to understand it goes way beyond just doing a pregnancy test,” Morris said. “We try to really build the family. Not just pregnancy, but help them learn how to be a family.”

Graceful Beginnings will celebrate its first year as an independent organization in October. The organization spent approximately 10 years operating as Living Alternatives before becoming independent last year and beginning its work under the Graceful Beginnings name.

Morris, the organization’s executive director, said the first year has been filled with growth, new community support and stories that demonstrate the value of walking alongside families during difficult seasons.

Graceful Beginnings describes itself as a parenting and pregnancy center. The organization works with families from the time they discover they are expecting a child until that child reaches three years old.

The center provides material assistance such as diapers and wipes, but Morris said those items represent only one part of the organization’s work.

Graceful Beginnings also offers pregnancy and parenting classes, as well as classes focused on co-parenting and other family situations. Some of the families served by the center are navigating military life, separation from a significant other or efforts to reunite after difficult circumstances.

The goal is not simply to help a mother prepare for childbirth, Morris said. It is to help parents develop the skills and support they need to build a stable family.

“Some of them just have no support, and some of them have maybe too much support in the wrong way,” Morris said.

The center also helps connect families with other services available in the region. That may include providing information about local food banks, helping someone apply for Women, Infants and Children benefits or helping a pregnant woman locate a maternity home that fits her needs.

“If there is a crisis pregnancy and they are interested in maybe a maternity home, we can help them find the one that is right for them because they’re not all created equally,” Morris said.

Graceful Beginnings also helps families locate health care and other resources when they are difficult to find.

For Morris, the center’s work is not limited to families who need help paying for basic necessities. She said many parents need someone to listen, encourage them and remind them that their struggles are not a sign that they are failing.

“We are not just there to help with material,” Morris said. “Even people that don’t need help getting diapers could quite often use the support of someone coming along beside them and just caring and listening and praying for them and with them.”

Parenting, she said, can be exhausting even when everything else is going well.

“Parenting is hard, and it gets harder every year,” Morris said. “They’re not crazy. They’re just tired.”

During its first year as Graceful Beginnings, the organization has also seen increased visibility in the community.

Morris said staff members are hearing less often from people who say they did not know the center existed and more often from people who are familiar with its work and want to help.

When a client needs a particular item, the center can share the need with its followers on social media. Morris said the community has responded generously.

“If we say we have a client in need of something, we’re able to put it out there, and the community is so great and responsive,” she said.

The most meaningful accomplishments, however, are measured in the progress made by individual families.

Morris described one client who came to Graceful Beginnings through Child Protective Services. When the woman first began receiving services, Morris said, she struggled to communicate and often missed appointments.

Over time, the woman began attending more consistently and communicating more effectively. Morris said she has watched the client grow more confident and become happier.

The woman now has a place of her own, has regained custody of one of her children and has given birth to a healthy baby boy.

More recently, the client told Morris she wanted to earn her GED but could not afford the cost of tutoring and testing. The total expense was expected to be approximately $500.

Morris found free tutoring resources online and began looking for someone willing to provide a scholarship for the testing costs.

It did not take long to find a donor.

The woman now studies for each test, returns to Graceful Beginnings when she is ready and works with Morris to schedule the next portion of the exam. She has one test remaining.

“She’s done great, and she’s done it quickly,” Morris said. “Her reason for that is that she wants a job so she can support her family.”

Morris said the woman’s progress represents the kind of success Graceful Beginnings hopes to encourage. The center’s work is not based on a single fixed plan that every family must follow.

“Everybody’s situation is unique,” Morris said. “We want to come in beside them and help them with what they’re struggling with and help them to grow from where they are.”

That flexibility is an important part of the organization’s approach. Some families may need diapers or wipes. Others may need help finding food, health care, housing or a maternity home. Some may need assistance navigating parenting or co-parenting. Others may simply need someone to listen without judgment.

Morris said Graceful Beginnings wants families to know that the organization is willing to meet them where they are.

“Our program is not so set in stone that we can’t alter it to what they need,” she said.

Graceful Beginnings plans to celebrate its first year as an independent organization with a banquet in October. Morris said the event will provide an opportunity to recognize the community members who have helped the organization grow and to share more about what has been accomplished during its first year.

Graceful Beginnings is located at 816 South Fourth Street in Crockett. For more information, the organization can be reached at 936-545-8432.

Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]